Billick: Coaches Could Be Fired For Contacting Players

The NFL players and owners are currently in a very heated and ugly labor dispute that could put all, or some, of the 2011 season in jeopardy, but caught in the middle of those two sides are the coaches of all 32 teams.

“Right now they’ve made it very very clear, in the owners, for legal purposes have made it clear, any contact with your players is a fire-able offense…Because the players will immediately come back and file some type of lawsuit, some type of injunction, that you’re trying to break down the union, or now the association, that you’re violating the anti trust act. So right now there literally can be no communication between you and your players. You hope that this thing gets done [soon].

“Where it really presses, and it’s really unfortunate is with those staffs that are just coming in new, John Fox in Denver, Ron Rivera in Carolina, Jim Harbaugh in San Fransisco and the list goes on. Now, where you normally might begin to have a mini camp prior to the Draft, because you’re allowed an extra mini camp, an extra workout session when you’re a new staff, now you can’t do that. So you’re going to find yourself behind the curve.”